Fashion and Textiles (Mar 2018)
Characterization of carbon nanofiber (CNF)/polymer composite coated on cotton fabrics prepared with various circuit patterns
Abstract
Abstract Fabric heating elements with carbon nanofiber (CNF)/Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) composite coated cotton fabrics were prepared with various circuit patterns with the aim of providing more flexible and uniform heating performance compared to conventional fabric heating elements. To investigate the properties of the fabric heating element according to the pattern condition, patterns consisting of 3, 5, and 7 horizontal lines, i.e., P3, P5 and P7, were respectively used; and subsequently, vertical lines were added to the horizontal lines, i.e., 2P3, 2P5 and 2P7, respectively. P0 was used as the referencesample. P0 showed a surface resistance of 1.2 × 103 Ω/sq at a current of 0.85 A and an electric heating temperature of 76.9 °C. P3 and 2P3 showed better electrical and electric heating properties than other samples, showing surface resistance values of 1.0 × 103 and 1.2 × 103 Ω/sq at the current values of 0.20 and 0.25 A, and surface temperatures of 71.8 and 75.7 °C, respectively. Although the currents applied to P3 and 2P3 were lower than that applied to P0, the electrical heating properties were modified to be similar. In terms of mechanical properties and water repellency, it was shown that the coated fabrics had higher values compared to the uncoated fabric. It was thus suggested that a small amount of CNF/PVDF-HFP composite can be used to manufacture an electric heating element with excellent performance.
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